Nut and pipe wrench



April 7, 193 1 \w. s. STUART NUT\AND PIPE WRENCH Filed Feb. 15, 1950 Patented Apr. 7, 1931 UNITED sT Tas PATENT WILLARD s. STUART, or EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, AssIGNoR TO THE BrLLInGs & SPENCER COMPANY, or HARTFORD, oonnncrrccr, a CORPORATION 01 commer- ICUT nu'r AND PIPE wnnnc'ii' Application filed February 15,1930. Serial No. 428,633. I k

The present invention relates broadly to the art of tools and involves more particu-' arm bythe shorter arm of the tool. Gonversely, a reversal of direction of rotation of the tool results in a quick release of the work. 1

The aim of the present invention is to provide a tool of this sort which may be readily adjustable so as toaccommodate work of various sizes within relatively large ranges,

the adjustable arrangement being such that undue wear on the pivot member or bolt is ftrated at 15. This portion 151s formed with avoided; and there are relatively large hearing surfaces between the arms adjacent their pivoted ends so that the arms do not become cocked or tilted one relative to the other;

With the present arrangement, the jaws have a relatively wide effective range of movement at each position of adjustment so that various sizes of work are accommodated and there is no gap in the sizes of work which can be gripped by the tool.

Other objects will be in part obvious and mg of the invention, reference may be had to the following description and accompanymg drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 1s a slde view in elevation of a nut wrench made in accordance with the present invention. This view develops the wrench of the slot. At the lower endthe bolt as in onev adjusted position.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the wrench shown in Figure 1. t I

Figure 3 is a section through the adjustable connection taken about on the pla'ne'indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 1 is a cross section through one of the arms. This View is taken on the'line 4-14 of Figure 1. I Y i Figure 5 is a cross section through the other taken on the line 5-5 of F igure l, and Figure 6' is a diagrammatic showing of the wrench when adjusted to accommodate the largest size work. V v W Referring now to the drawings, the wrench is shown comprising a comparatively long arm 10 and a shorter armll. At one end the arm 10 is flattened out as shown at 12, and this flattened portion is formed with a jaw face 13 having a suitable roughened surface such as one provided by ribs 14. At its other extremity the arm 10 is also flattened out, bent over, and somewhat enlarged, as illusan opening 16of non-circular cross-section for a purposeto be later-'more'fully 'described.

The shorter arm 11 isdefor'med at onee'nd to provide a curved'jaw'face 17 which is complemental to the jaw 13. This jaw 17 alsohas ribs 14 provided thereon for obvious reasons. At the other en'dthe arm 11 is enlarged at one side and flattened out as shown at 18. A slot 19 is formed in this portion; At

intervals the slot 19 isenlarged to provide.

' openings'20, there being three of these open ings in the illustrated embodiment, although this number is, of course, susceptible of variation. It is noteworthy that the-slot 19 is inclined with respect to the arm 11. v

A bolt 21, having'flattened sides as shown at 22,'and a head 23, is passed through the "opening 16'with the head-2 8 bearing against the surface of the flattened portion 15; This bolt i's held against rotation with respect to the arm 10 by the non-circular formation of the opening 16 and the bolt itself, This bolt 21 passes through the slot'19- which is dimensioned to-receive the bolt when the flattened sides of-the latter are aligned with the walls are threaded and receives a nut 2 1, which bears against the portion 18 and which, together with the head 23, maintains the arms 10' and 11 in assembled relation. Of course,

when the bolt is located in one of the circular openings 20 the arms 10 and 11 may be swung together or apart in much the same manner as a pair of pliers.

When the wrench is to be used, the bolt- 21 is first positioned in the proper opening 20 to adjust it to the size of the nut which is to be turned. The arms 10 and 11 are then swung together to bring the aws 13 and 17 into engagement with the work. A force is then applied in a clo'clnwise direction, speaking with reference to Figure 1. The initial effect of this force is to tighten the engagement of the jaws 13 and 17 about the nut. This is because the nut itself, and the arm 11, constitute in effect the operating arms of a toggle. Continued application of the force will cause the work to be turned as desired. When the work is to be released, a mere with drawal of the turning force or slight rotation in the reverse direction will effectthe release.

It is important that the slot19 be inclined to the lengths of the aw carrying arms, as with this arrangement various advantages are ol 'tained. In the first place, it is to be observed that a good bearing surface is obtained be- 20 in the slot and the curved forward face 21 0f the bolt 21 in all operating positions of the jaws. When in operation, the tendency is for the force applied to cause the shorter arm to move longitudinally away from the jaw 13, and the pressure is taken between the relatively'large curved contacting surfaces 20 and 21. Also, with this arrangement, the opposed contacting surfaces between the flattened portions 15 and 18 are relatively large so that the jaw elements are held against cocking or tilting laterally when they are swung relative to one another. Also, by providing an inclined slot as described, better operating effects are" obtained in that the jaw 17 has a larger range of effective move ment when the device is adjusted for the positions shown in Figures 1 and 3. l/Vhen the parts are adjusted as shown in Fig. 6, the effective range of movement of the jaw 17 is such that it will overlap the effective range. of movement of the jaw 17 when the parts are adjusted as shown in Figure 1. The effective range of movement of the aw when adjusted as shown in Figure 1 is such that it will overlap the range of movement of the jaw when the parts are adjusted with the bolt 21 engaging in the outermost opening, that is, the right-hand opening, referring to Figure 1. a e 7 As many changes could be made in the above construction and many vapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

WVhat is claimed as the invention is:

In a nut wrench, in combination, an arm having a jaw substantially perpendicular to the arm, a bolt non-rotatably mounted in the arm at the end remote from said jaw face, said bolt having flattened sides which are inclined to the length of said arm and a curved bearing face facing forwardly and outwardly of said arm, a second arm having a curved jaw face on its free end and having at its other end an enlarged flattened portion with a slot inclined to the length of the arm, said slot havin a plurality of openings, said bolt extending into said slot and being movable therein, and means on the bolt for main WILLARD s. STUART.

- tween the forward edge 20 of each opening 

